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Category FAQs Search : Department of Irrigation and Drainage Sarawak

Question: What is Sarawak Urban Stormwater Management (SUStoM)? What is the guiedeline?

Answer: SUStoM was approved by the State Cabinet on 28th January 2016 as a planning standard for development control to incorporate stormwater management into the design to minimize environmental degradation and improve aesthetic as well as recreational appeal of areas in Sarawak.

It is a guideline to establish a uniform technical standards for the developers, engineers, consultants, planners, architects, Local Authorities and Government Agencies in submitting the SUStoM Planning Submission, Earthwork Plan and Erosion and Sediment Control Plan (ESCP) and Stormwater Management Plan.


Its objective is to assist the applicants or project proponent to submit a complete and comprehensive SUStoM Planning Submission, Earthwork Plan and Erosion and Sediment Control Plan (ESCP) and Stormwater Management Plan that is in accordance with SUStoM requirements.

The incidence of flash floods in urban areas is becoming more severe from year to year. This is partly due to the encroachment into the river corridor/river reserve which serves as natural space for water.


Currently, in order to mitigate such nuisance flash floods, conventional drainage systems were designed to provide the fastest possible disposal of stormwater runoff out of the catchments into the receiving water bodies.


In the past, the design of conventional drainage systems used to be based on the first urban drainage manual, “Planning and Design Procedure No. 1: Urban Drainage Design Standards and Procedures for Peninsular Malaysia” published in 1975 by the Department Of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Malaysia. This manual was in use for 25 years in Peninsular Malaysia whereas in Sarawak, the same manual have been in used for more than 40 years. According to the aforesaid manual, the drainage system is designed based on “rapid disposal” which unfortunately has led to the increase of flash flooding occurrences at the downstream of catchments due to the increase in surface runoff, peak discharges and shorter time of concentration. Thus, this rapid disposal approach is no longer effective and efficient in tackling flooding woes as more and more development takes place.


The main focus of SUStoM is to manage the stormwater by using an environmental friendly approach based on “control-at-source” techniques, which include control water quantity and quality as well as erosion and sediment control. This method utilises detention or retention (to store water temporarily), infiltration to reduce runoff, and purification to improve the water quality upon reaching the river system. Thus, the quantity and quality of the stormwater runoff from a developed area can be retained to its pre-development condition.


SUStoM is also to provide easy guidance to all regulators, planners and designers who are involved in stormwater management implementation. This is to ensure that the administration of the planning, design and maintenance of stormwater system is consistent across all the authorities and the professions of urban development, environmental, water resources, civil engineering and landscape architecture.

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(Source: Department of Irrigation and Drainage Sarawak, 06 May 2020)

Source Link: https://did.sarawak.gov.my/page-0-390-1332-SUStoM.html#tag1